Author Kathleen Curthoys

Want a sandwich? Soldiers better have a knife and fork handy — if they’re in the British army. Sandwiches and rolls are banned from an officers’ mess in England because the way soldiers eat them is “frankly barbaric,” says an army commander, Maj. Gen. James Cowan, quoted Wednesday in The Telegraph, which cites a report in the Sun. “Quite a few officers … seem to be under the impression that they can eat their food with their hands,” Cowan says in a three-page letter on standards at Bulford Camp in Wiltshire, home of 3 UK Division. He also targets the use of…

The Army’s top officer, now a seasoned veteran of late-night TV talk shows, appeared on “Conan” last night and encouraged the nation’s employers to hire soldiers leaving the service. “I believe they have so much to contribute,” said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno, in the guest chair next to host Conan O’Brien. There are “no better employees than those who served the country,” he said to applause from the audience. Odierno talked up the Army’s Soldier for Life program, which supports the transition of soldiers into civilian life, saying “there is still a lot of work to do” as soldiers and…

As seven soldiers head for the Winter Olympics, the call is out for one of them to be picked as flag bearer for the U.S. during the Parade of Nations in Sochi, Russia. NBC raised the question, and its list of top picks for flag bearer on the NBC Olympics website includes two from the Army contingent: Capt. Chris Fogt and veteran Steven Holcomb. The list includes several other Olympic competitors. A Facebook page for soldiers, U.S Army W.T.F! moments, is rallying soldiers to vote for Fogt, an Iraq veteran who’s on the bobsled team Night Train, along with Holcomb,…

Actor Leonard Nimoy was in uniform long before he wore the Star Fleet ensemble as Mr. Spock in the original “Star Trek” series, and in all those movies since then. On Veterans’ Day, Nimoy tweeted a picture of himself as a young man in his Army uniform. Instead of a phaser, Sgt. Nimoy carried a mop. (In the photo, he appears to be wearing the rank of staff sergeant, with a “T” that in the 1950s would indicate a technician.) He served as a soldier from 1953 to 1955. The Army took him to Fort Ord, Calif., Fort Benning, Ga.,…

Soldiers and airmen from the Pennsylvania National Guard are processed and sworn in as special police by the Metropolitan Police Department at the District of Columbia National Guard Armory in Washington, D.C. on Friday. Photo by Mike Morones, Army Times photographer

See our report on what happens if Mitt Romney becomes the commander in chief in November. Read the bizarre story of the soldiers accused in the death of another soldier and his girlfriend to cover up an anarchist plot to kill the president and seize Fort Stewart. Find out what the Army’s top operations chief says about what’s next for Afghanistan. The print edition is on newsstands now.

Soldiers’ pay raises under threat Military pay raises should now be getting smaller, says a new report commissioned by the Defense Department. At the same time, the Pentagon is proposing a cap on pay hikes to take effect in the next couple of years. Service members are paid enough, says the report, which is not the first report to attack military pay and benefits, but it is one that supports an active Defense Department initiative. To learn more about the report’s recommendations — and why it says soldiers make enough already — see this week’s Army Times. 4-star in…